Electric-railway system.



J B STHAUSS ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED MAR- 30; l908. 1,177,551 Patented Mar. 28,1916.

IME COLUMBIA PLANORAPH 55|, WASHINGTON. D. C-

. JOSEPH IB. STRAUSS, OIIl CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ELECTRIC-RAILWAY sYsTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented D131-, 28, 1916,.

Application filed March 30, 1908. Serial No. 424,028.

T0 all whom zt may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH B. S'rnAUss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric- Railway Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electric cars, and has for its object to provide a new and im'- proved system and arrangement for operating the same.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a car illustrating my invention; Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view through the track showing the construction of the conducting system; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the track;

Fig. 4is a diagrammatic view showing the v circuits on the car; F 1g. 5 lsva'sectional` view through the conduit and contact device.

Like letters refer to like parts throughout the several figures.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a conducting and operating system for electric cars, wherein there will be no live conductors exposed beyond the boundaries of the car.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, I have shown a portion of a car l, located upon any desired form of track, and provided with a suitable operating electric motor or motors and controlling apparatus. Beneath the pavement and between the rails 2 of the track is a suitable conduit 3 which. maybe made of porcelain, concrete or any other suitable material, preferably a nonconductor of electricity, the conduit being preferably water-tight. lVithin this conduit or passageway is an electric conductor 4 preferably continuous. This conduit or passageway is preferably entirely closed so that noV part of the conductor is exposedY or can be tampered with. The closing of the conduit may be arranged in any desired manner, as, for example, by means of a series of closing or pavement sections 5 which extend from rail to rail. and which are removably attached in position, butwhich entirely and completely close the conduit when in position. A series of exposed or external conductors 6 are arranged preferably between the rails and end to end, all of said exposed conductors being electrically disconnected from each other, and separated at their ends by either an air space or some length of the car. These external or exposedV conductors are fastened 1n position in any.

desired manner, and each of them is connected by an electrical connection 7 with a stationary concealed contact 8 located in the conduit, the several contacts 8 being preferably arranged substantially equal distances apart. Y

Within the yconduit 3 is a concealed or internal contact device 9 which moves with the car, but is entirely disconnected therefrom, and has no part exposed with which pedestrians or animals may come into contact. moving engages the continuous conductor 4 and the various stationary contacts 8 so as to sucessively and electrically connect the continuous conductor with said stationary contacts. This contact device 9 is somewhat ylonger than the distance between the sta- I tionary contacts 8 so that it will engage one contact before leaving the other and thus successively connect the exposed conductor 6 with the continuous conductor 4, and hence the source of electrical supply. The distance between the contacts 8 and the length of the conductors 6 is preferably such that no portionv of any of the conductors 6 will be exposed beyond the boundaries of the car,

while connected to the source of electric supply.` The Contact device 9 may beoonstructed'in any desired manner. As illustrated in Fig. 2 this contact device is made up of. twov parts which are removably fastened together at the top, and which are provided at the bottom with laterally extending projections,

one of which engages the ycontacts 8 and the other the conductor 4. The conduit is shaped to receive these projections, and by dividing the contact device intotwc parts removably connected together it can be inserted in the conduit, and will permit the use of a conduit Y much smaller than could be used if the contact device was in one piece. The conductor 4 is held in proper position in any desired manner, as by means of the supports 10. The contact device 9 is preferably provided at the bottom with the protecting pieces 11 of some suitable material. Fastened-to the car is an exposed contact device 12 which may be a brush or a wheel or any other suitable means and which engages the conduchis'contact device when the car is tors 6 as the car moves along the track. Y By means of this contact device the current is carried to the motor cn the car, and also to a horseshoe-shaped electromagnet 13 which is located above the conduit 8, and arranged to attract the concealed or internal contact device 9 so as to lift it into its contact position, electrically connecting the contacts 8 and the continuous conductor 4, and at the same time carry it along withl the car.' Then the electromagnet is deenergized the Contact device drops to the bottom of the conduit so as to break the electrical connection. The circuits on the car are arranged to keep the electromagnet in the circuit at all times, even when the motor is cut out of circuit to stop the car. |This result may be secured. in any desired manner. As shown in Fig. Ll the exposed contact device 12 on the car is connected by conductor 14 with the motor 15 which is provided witha controller 16 of any desired description, the connection 17 then running to ground. The electromagnet 13 is connected across the circuit in multiple with the motor so that when the current through the motor circuit is shut olf it will still pass through the electromagnet. I prefer to provide a secondary battery 18 and have it connected up in such a manner that it will be charged by the current under ordis naryr conditions, and' will act to energize the electromagnet in oase-the current in the line should for any reason cease, thus preventing the concealed contact device from being dropped while the car is in motion, and thus getting out of the field of influence of the electromagnet.

The exposed conductor it will' be noted, is at one side of the main or concealed conductor, and is therefore, out of the direct field of the magnet which acts on the concealed contact, and the magnet, therefore,

acts 'directly upon this concealed contactv through the non-magneticmateriali-of which the pavement sections 5 are made. It will further be noted that these pavement sections which form a coverl for the conduit, extend from rail to rail across the space between them. This position of the exposed conductor out of the path of the magnet on the car permits the magnet to act with its maximum effect upon the concealed contact, there being no magnetic material between the two to take up theY magnetism.- This magnet forms. as it were, means on the car for governingor controlling the concealed source of supply and the exposed sectional conductor is out of the path of this means.

The conduit is made up of a series of sec- Y tions end to end whichare sealed up by the pavement pieces, eachy section having the exposed or external conductor engaged by a part on the passing car, such conductor having projections into the interior of thesection of the conduit, with which it is associated, there being an automatic device within such sections by which the external conductor is connected'with the source ofthe current as the vpart on the car engages said laterally exterior projecting contact parts? xed with relation thereto.

2; The combination with an electric car having a motor thereon of a` magnet on the car, a conductor-extending al'cng the pathofr the car, a contact device detached' from the' car andv controlled by said magnet, said@ contact device comprising two angular partsl Aremovably fastened' together with laterally exterior projecting contact parts fixed with relation thereto and adapted to be brought-w into contact with said conductorby the attractive power of the magnet.

"8. A traveling closer for controlling an electric circuit comprising a thin` metal plate having itsv middl'e portion bent upwardlyy and its edgesl bent outwardly, said edgesv formingthe contact faces; Y

4. The. combination-'with an electric car havinga mctorand 'al magnet thereon of separatedt conductors belowtheY oarA and@ separate from the car', a contact device separate from the ear-and=I controlled byV said magnet, saidI contactV device compris# ing a thin' sheet of metal bent upwardly at its.- middle to bringit into proximity to said ma gnet, the. lower edges bent outwardly to engage said conductors.v y

y JOSEPH ie. sfraauss.

-VVitnesses-zy f EDN-A K". REYNOLDS, SOPHIE B. WERNER.'

Copies of this patent may ne obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ailments@ Washington, D. 

